JONATHAN Moyo, with a super-government salary and
numerous perks that obviously keep him well-fed, says there is no food
crisis in the country.

According to him, if people die of malnutrition,
what's the big deal. Even the Americans die of malnutrition because they eat
too many "burgers", he informed us indignantly.In the same way that Tony
Blair and George W Bush used "weapons of mass deception" in Iraq, Bulawayo
city council officials who dared reveal that people were starving to death
had unleashed their own little "weapon of mass deception" on
Zimbabwe.

This would be funny if it were not so tragic. Who does not know
that there are some districts of Zimbabwe, especially the traditionally dry
areas, where perenially, there is low availability of food, and where when
it is available, prices are beyond the reach of many particularly in the
urban areas.

If we go along with Moyo's way of thinking, those
Zimbabweans who allow themselves to starve to death, or complain that they
have no food, are unpatriotic. Not full blooded Zimbabwean should expose the
nation to ridicule by claiming that that there is not enough food in the
country.

If this is how propaganda works - to fight deception, you use
deception, then Moyo is certainly proving to be a master at the
game.

But even worse, Jonathan Moyo has introduced a terrible
misconception in political thought and practice in this country namely that
if you are not with the government of the day, then you must be against it,
and therefore you are a traitor. His own instruments of mass deception are
the State controlled media, which he misuses and abuses with
impunity.

Bulawayo's City Council's director of medical services, Dr
Zanele Hwalima and the city's executive mayor, Japhet Ndabeni-Ncube, are now
suddenly in the league of Tony Blair and George W Bush for daring to report
the facts as they saw them on the ground.

And it does not end there.
The newspapers that reported what the Bulawayo officials said are, according
to Moyo, just as guilty. This is akin to bludgeoning the postman for daring
to hand you a huge bill, even though you expected it. Indeed, Moyo wants to
kill the messenger for bringing the news that he does not like. So now the
truncheon must fall on the heads of Ndabeni-Ncube and Hwalima in addition to
the public flogging they received from the junior minister's acerbic
tongue.

We must all wonder what Jonathan Moyo's brief is as Minister of
Information and Publicity. In a government that functions normally, the
information minister is the chief government public relations officer
building bridges between the government and the people.

But in
Zimbabwe, Moyo sees himself as the knight in the shining armour - the
executioner in charge of the harem - and woe betide anyone who dares cross
his path. If the number of journalists being wantonly arrested under the
country's draconian media laws is anything to go by, anyone who ignores this
man's campaign of attrition against the media does so at their own
peril.

It's most unfortunate for our country that we have a person like
Moyo holding a government position of such importance.

The way this
junior minister has used propaganda to lie, distort and mislead the people
of Zimbabwe on many things is unforgivable. Propaganda is a dangerous
motivation. All writers of opinion may, in a manner of speaking, be
propagandists but it is how propaganda is used that matters.

The lying
Herald reported that I had left the country and am doing a .com in the UK. I
did not know that I had left the country until a friend alerted me to the
deception in that government bulletin. I then wondered what else has been
happening to me lately that I ought to know about.

All along I had been
believing in the physical law that an object can only occupy one space at
any given time. The lying Horrid has obviously revised that law.

We
regret that we are unable to publish Over The Top this week. The column will
be back next week

KADOMA - Bineth Farm, owned by the President of Malawi, Dr
Bingu wa Mutharika, could pose a serious health hazard if poor sanitary
conditions are not improved, says a report by a team from the General
Agricultural and Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ).

"The
farm compound has no electricity and has poor water supplies, which expose
workers to diseases such as cholera, dysentery and malaria."The GAPWUZ team
established that workers at Bineth Farm are living in poor pole and mud
houses with broken roofs," reads part of the report, which was compiled by a
team, after visiting the farm on September 16, 2004.

As a result, the
farm management has been summoned to the union headquarters in
Harare.

GAPWUZ launched investigations at the farm after The Standard
broke the story about the poor working conditions at the farm.

So
poor are the conditions on the property that in late July, the workers went
on strike demanding better wages and improved working conditions.

The
strike was quickly quelled and its end coincided with the arrival of wa
Mutharika in the country in August. The Malawian President was in Harare to
officiate at the Zimbabwe Agricultural Show.

The Malawian head of
State reportedly delayed his departure in order to attend the burial of
nationalist and national hero, Dr Eddison Zvobgo.

He, however, took time
out to visit Bineth farm, where he slaughtered a beast for people of
Malawian origin, who live in the mining settlements of Kadoma and
Patchway.

The deputy secretary general of GAPWUZ, Gift Muti, told The
Standard that some of the findings made by the team from the union included
low wages of $38 000 a month instead of the stipulated $72
000.

"During the meeting held with the workers, some complained that they
were not being paid for maternity or sick leave. They were not paid overtime
and were not provided with protective clothing," said Muti. Most of the
workers at Bineth Farm are female.

Muti said in addition, workers had
been working at the farm for several years without becoming permanent
staff.

"According to labour regulations, anybody working continuously for
eight months should be made a permanent employee," Muti explained.

He
said from their interviews of the farm management and the workers, it had
become apparent that both parties were ignorant of the labour laws.

ZIMBABWE'S
junior doctors have since Thursday been on strike after they received what
they said were half salaries for the month of September from their employer,
the Public Service Commission (PSC),The Standard has learnt.

When The
Standard visited Parirenyatwa Hospital on Friday afternoon most of the
junior doctors were at their residences while others were drinking beer at a
bar within the premises.Workers at the hospital said scores of patients had,
since Thursday, been turned away because there were not enough doctors to
attend to them.

"A number of people have been turned away since
yesterday. I hope it won't go on for long because senior doctors alone can't
cope," said one worker, who requested anonymity.

The few senior
doctors remaining at the hospital were attending to patients in critical
condition only.

President of the Hospital Doctors' Association (HDA),
Phibion Manyanga, said the doctors would only resume duties after they are
paid their full salaries.

He said not a single doctor in towns such
as Bulawayo and Mutare had received the remaining half of their
salaries.

PANICKY depositors are moving their money from vulnerable
commercial banks to established ones ahead of Thursday's ultimatum to cull
financial institutions in poor health, Standard Business has
learnt.

Bankers say alarmed depositors are increasingly removing their
money from more exposed banks - such as Trust Bank which was closed for six
months on Thursday - to established ones fearing the weaker ones could go
under.Corporates are also reportedly moving their deposits to more stable
and traditional banks among them CBZ, Finhold, Kingdom, Standard Chartered,
Stanbic and Barclays.

The run on deposits could a detection that some
banks will sink come September 30, the date by which commercial banks are
required to raise their minimum capital base to $10 billion under new
banking regulations, say experts.

The base for finance and discount
house has been pegged at $7,5 billion. The capital base will represent the
last line of defence of any financial institution in the event of potential
exposure to risk.

Zimbabwe's banking sector comprises 41 banking
institutions of which six are under curatorship; two under liquidation while
four are operate under the Troubled Bank Fund.

Sources last week told
Standard Business that some clients were making "frenzied withdrawals" from
the small banks - which they fear would not be able to meet the RBZ
regulations - to the bigger banks.

"People would rather move their
accounts from those banks who benefited from the Troubled Banks Fund (TBF)
rather to be sorry at the end of the day," said one
banker.

Traditional lenders to indigenous banks - such as pension funds
and insurance companies - have also withdrawn lending to some of the smaller
institutions because of fear of exposure, said banking sources.

The
new tight measures on commercial banking have however benefited the
foreign-owned and established banks more.

Interim profit reports up
to June indicate that Barclays and Standard Chartered - both British-owned -
reported an after-tax historical cost profit of Z$196,5 billion and Z$190
billion respectively while the South African owned Stanbic recorded an after
tax historical cost profit of Z$114,9 billion.

Barclays' customer
deposits rose from $170 billion to $960 billion while lending to customers
increased to $676 billion in the period up to June.

Kingdom Financial
Holdings Limited (KFHL), one of the stable indigenous banks, says its
savings and current account deposit base has doubled during the past nine
months to the extend that it was opening a new corporate branch in
Graniteside.

WAR veterans and Zanu PF youths have banned
retailers in Chipinge South from selling maize meal to villagers, The
Standard has learnt. The ban means villagers can only buy maize meal from
the Grain Marketing Board (GMB), where they are asked to produce ruling
party membership cards.

Villagers who spoke to The Standard last week
said they were finding life difficult because they were forced to buy Zanu
PF membership cards in order to access food at GMB depots, where the maize
meal is sold in bulk.

In some cases, the maize meal is sold to villagers,
at inflated prices, by Zanu PF youths, who have easy access to the
GMB.

According to the villagers, the practice is rampant in areas such as
Chibuwe, Rimbi, Kondo and Mariya, where firms such as N Richards &
Company, Reapers (Pvt) Limited and other smaller retailers have been banned
from selling maize meal.

"We used buy to 5kg maize meal for $6 300
from N Richards but now we cannot. If you go to the GMB, you have to buy in
bulk but we don't have the money," said Sofia Mhlanga of Rimbi Business
Centre, about 30 kilometres from Chipangayi, where the nearest GMB depot is
located.

The villagers said they preferred buying maize meal in smaller
quantities because they could not afford bulk purchases.

The GMB can
only sell a minimum of 50kg bag of maize for $32 900 to individuals "subject
to approval by the depot manager", said a GMB official in
Harare.

Chris Dube, who also hails from Rimbi but works in Harare, said
it was disheartening that Zanu PF, was using food to force starving
villagers into submission.

"At times, Porusingazi brings maize meal
at the centre to sell it to Zanu PF party card-holders only. Now that some
retailers have been banned from operating in the areas, people are going to
starve," said Dube.

Enock Porusingazi, a long-standing aspirant for the
Chipinge South seat, said he was only involved in the transportation of
maize to selected points from the GMB but does not distribute it to the
communities. He refuted allegations that villagers were being forced to buy
Zanu PF cards to secure maize.

"The selling is done by local
councillors and drought relief committee members not Zanu PF youths," said
Porusingazi. His political rivals, he claimed, were making the allegations.
He will be contesting against Catherine Chirimambowa in the Zanu PF
primaries next month.

An official with N Richards & Company in
Chiredzi last week confirmed the firm had been prevented from selling maize
meal in Chipinge South. He said for the past month the company had not been
delivering maize meal to Chipinge South after Zanu PF youths threatened
company officials.

"The issue looks political. However, the MP for
Chipinge South (Wilson Kumbula) came here on Wednesday and appealed to us.
He said that people in his constituency were suffering, so we are likely to
resume supplies any time from now," said the company
official.

He said Zanu PF officials,
who have easy access to the GMB, were denying food to opposition supporters,
including those from his party.

"I have invited the companies back
because people are suffering. Porusingazi was given a contract to transport
food from the GMB to surrounding communities, but he is distributing it to
Zanu PF supporters only," fumed Kumbula.

Kumbula alleged that after
collecting the maize from GMB, Porusingazi would then distribute it to Zanu
PF youths, who would in turn sell at inflated prices.

"As a result,
the youths are driving away retailers in the constituency in order to avoid
com

petition," said the MP.

Reapers (Pvt) Limited chief executive
officer, Basel Nyabadza, however denied they had been banned. He said they
had stopped due shortage of maize meal for sale.

MASVINGO - Business at hotels and lodges, now thriving on
workshops, is being disrupted by state security agents who are prowling
around these areas in a bid to spy on the activities of non governmental
organisations (NGOs) and any other organisations perceived to be anti
government.

Investigations by The Standard in Masvingo revealed that
many resort centres dotted around the vast Lake Mutirikwi were being
subjected to persistent intimidation by the continuous presence of Central
Intelligence Organisation (CIO) operatives and the Zanu PF youth
militia.

These groups, The Standard heard, were after members of the
opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), the Zimbabwe Congress of
Trade Unions (ZCTU) and several other NGOs involved in governance issues,
such as the National Constitutional Assembly (NCA).

Some
organisations preferred holding workshops close to the Great Zimbabwe
monument and the lake where the atmosphere is peaceful.

Officials at
several hotels and lodges, which surround the country's largest inland lake,
Mutirikwi, last week told The Standard they were seriously concerned about
the presence of CIO and Green Bombers - the ruling party militia - saying
their presence alone terrified clients.

"Only last week on Thursday,
three male CIO operatives, whom I can identify, came to our lodge on three
occasions. They were in a Mazda vehicle and said they were looking for
members of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) whom they claimed
were holding a seminar.

"Efforts to block the three CIO operatives from
entering the conference room failed. They would not listen and this resulted
in our guests hurriedly fleeing the premises shortly after the departure of
the operatives. This is not healthy for the tourism business," said an
official who preferred not to be named.

Another tourism marketing
official said: "Right now I fail to understand why we are campaigning abroad
for tourists when the youth militia and CIO are deployed to intimidate,
harass and threaten the very same people who are bringing
business."

Another lodge, a favourite among European, American and South
African tourists, Lake Shore, was visited twice last week by CIO operatives
and Zanu PF youth militia. They told staff at the lodge that they were
looking for opposition MDC and ZCTU members attending a
workshop.

"It's true that MDC had 10 of its people attending a two-day
seminar, but so what?" said the official.

Another manager said:
"Because of these intrusions, foreign tourists who used to be our major
clients are no longer coming here."

A manager with one of the hotels in
Masvingo said: "When we do business we don't consider whether one is Zanu
PF, or MDC"

The Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA) regional manager for
Chiredzi, Keron Shumba, admitted that the tourism sector was facing problems
but quickly pointed out that his organisation was involved in aggressive
marketing strategies to revive the tourism business.

BULAWAYO - The Zanu PF government has allegedly hatched a plan
to oust the elected MDC executive mayor for Bulawayo, Japhet Ndabeni-Ncube,
from office over allegations that he is making up malnutrition figures in
the city to discredit the government, The Standard has learnt.

Last week, the Minister of State for Information, Professor Jonathan Moyo,
threatened Ndabeni-Ncube, accusing him of "falsifying" malnutrition figures
and giving them to the independent media to discredit the
government. Councillors who spoke to The Standard last week said
they were aware that the government was hatching plans to accuse
Ndabeni-Ncube over a host of allegations, paving the way for his arrest and
ultimate suspension from office.

The councillors said they were
aware of their colleagues who were provoking the mayor in council meetings
in a bid to get him to react in a violent manner. Some of these councillors
were said to be in direct communication with the Minister of Local
Government, Dr Ignatious Chombo.

"Zanu PF is using millions of
dollars to lure councillors to the party and we are aware that there are
councillors who appear to be falling into the trap," said one
councillor.

Ndabeni-Ncube has on several occasions clashed with the
city's former deputy mayor, Charles Mpofu, during council meetings. Mpofu
defected from Zanu PF and was elected councillor on an MDC
ticket.

The mayor also exchanged harsh words with Ward 28
councillor, Stars Mathe. during a full council meeting.

Zanu PF
currently has a single councillor, Ernest Msipa, in the 29 strong council,
who was elected unopposed after the MDC pulled out of all elections early
this month.

MDC spokesperson for Bulawayo, Victor Moyo, said his
party was aware of the plot to oust Ndabeni-Ncube from his position and
replace him with a pro-Zanu PF acting mayor.

He said the latest
attempt to implicate the mayor in unethical practices would not succeed
since council had documented material to support cases of deaths from hunger
in the city.

Ndabeni-Ncube confirmed the existence of a plot to
remove him from office. "I know I have ruffled many feathers by disclosing
the deaths of people due to malnutrition and they want me out of the
way."

Moyo last week lashed out at Ndabeni-Ncube and Dr Zanele
Hwalima the city's health services director and said his ministry would deal
with journalists who write stories about people dying from
malnutrition.

THE government has gazetted
the Ex-Political Prisoners, Detainees and Restrictees Bill, which seeks to
dole out millions of dollars to people affected by the struggle for
independence, but analysts warned of serious repercussions to the
economy.

Although there is no mention of figures in the Bill, earlier
reports put the one-off gratuity payments at $10 million a person. The
government has not disputed this amount.

The Bill gazetted on Friday,
among other things, provides for a one-off gratuity payment to former
political prisoners, detainees and restrictees as well as a monthly pension,
not less than the minimum salary paid to public service
workers.

Also, there will be a monthly survivor's or child pension
payable to the dependants of a deceased ex-political prisoner, detainee or
restrictee.

The Bill, which is expected to be fast tracked through
Parliament, will also establish schemes for the provision of financial
assistance to ex-political prisoners, detainees and restrictees, as well as
their dependants.

Such assistance would come from a fund that will be set
up by government. The Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare,
who at the moment is Paul Mangwana, will have "sole management, control and
use of the fund", according to the Bill.

Among other functions, the
fund provides for grants for subsistence, physical, mental or social
rehabilitation as well as manpower development for the
beneficiaries.

It also provides for loans, "whether with or without
interest", financial technical, managerial or any other form of assistance
to ex-political prisoners, detainees or restrictees involved in
income-generating projects.

In what amounts to a State funerals for every
beneficiary, the Fund will also take care of their funeral
expenses.

University of Zimbabwe political science lecturer, Eldred
Masunungure, said : "From an economic standpoint, it is too disastrous for
an ailing economy like ours. But from the political side, it will give
enormous support to the ruling party."

Other analysts described the
Bill as a populist move which spells doom for the country's economy. They
said its magnitude could only be rivalled by the November 1997 crisis, which
was triggered by the hefty unbudgeted gratuities and pensions awarded to
former freedom fighters.

President Mugabe, under siege from marauding war
veterans led by the late Dr Chenjerai Hunzvi, awarded war veterans $50 000
gratuities each, sending the economy into a free fall in what came to be
known as "Black Friday".

Economic analyst Dr Eric Bloch said compensating
ex-political prisoners, detainees and restrictees will further increase the
government deficit and in turn, trigger a hyper-inflationary environment,
which is a recipe for "economic disaster".

The Bulawayo-based
economist said if huge funds are involved it would be a repeat of the
December 1997 scenario, which precipitated the current economic
meltdown.

"The government has no money. To raise it, it would have to
increase taxes and this will certainly lead to more people suffering," said
Bloch.

The Bill describes an ex-political prisoner, detainee or
restrictee as a person who after January 1, 1959, was imprisoned, detained
or restricted in Zimbabwe for at least six months for political activity in
connection with bringing about the country's
independence.

Masunungure believes it is more beneficial to address
economic fundamentals than to scout for victims of the war of liberation, 24
years after independence.

"Let sleeping dogs lie and proceed with
solving the country's economic problems because if the economy is running
well you will not need to cushion anybody," said
Masunungure.

Opposition MDC secretary-general, Professor Welshman Ncube,
said effects of the Bill, if signed into law, would be as "disastrous" as
the gratuities and pensions awarded to war veterans in 1997.

Ncube
said it was mind-boggling that a government failing to fund capital projects
in sectors of health and education was seeking to dole out money to millions
of "purported" ex-political prisoners and detainees, over two decades after
independence.

Reserve Bank Governor, Dr Gideon Gono, who is expected to
meet World Bank officials next month for consultations on Zimbabwe, could
not be reached for comment yesterday on how the government proposes to raise
the money. The Acting Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Dr
Herbert Murerwa, was also unavailable for comment yesterday.

THE Herald's editorial of September 1, 2004 once again
proves that it is no longer a public newspaper but a cheap propaganda tool
of the ruling Zanu PF. It praised the government for introducing the
recently gazetted Bill on Non-Governmental Organizations.

It said:
"The Bill, which will put in place a code of conduct, will help protect
Zimbabwe's sovereignty from deviant organizations. Some NGOs and church
organizations have been causing widespread confusion in the country by
converting their humanitarian programmes into political platforms."Some of
them have been openly going around the country under the guise of
distributing food aid and combating HIV/AIDS while they incite people to
rebel against the government.

"Organisations and churches that
conduct their work according to the country's laws need not lose sleep over
the bill. We have said in the past that the church should concentrate on
spiritual and other issues. Politics is for politicians and the church has
no business in politics.

"Whoever decides to combine the two is not
serious about the church, but is keen on furthering their political
objectives using the church as a cover."

Whoever wrote this editorial
must live in another world to think that Zimbabweans, especially Christians,
can believe such twisted drivel. We all know that the Bill is not all about
protecting Zimbabwe's sovereignty. Protecting it from what? It is all about
protecting the Zanu PF government from having their gross human rights
abuses exposed. It is just another of Zanu PF's concerted efforts to silence
all opposition to its injustices, lawlessness, corruption and
plunder.

The church represents God on earth. Her ministers speak on
behalf of God and God can never be gagged. Some tried it in the past and
failed miserably.

In the Bible we read of how Peter and other apostles
were ordered not to preach about the death of Jesus and his resurrection by
the powers that were. They said: "We must obey God rather than men. The God
of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead - whom you had killed by hanging
on a tree. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Saviour that
he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel.

"We are
witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to
those who obey him."

When they heard this, the rulers were so angry that
they wanted to kill the apostles right there and then. They were restrained
by Gamaliel, a respected lawyer who said: "I advise you: Leave these men
alone. Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it
will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men;
you will only find yourselves fighting against God." (Acts 5: 17 -
38).

To say that church leaders should have no say in political matters
is to misunderstand completely the role of the church in society. At
independence Catholic Bishops in Zimbabwe defined the role of the church
very clearly. They wrote: "While the State and the Church are independent
and autonomous in their own spheres, both are at the service of
man.

"The church is not identified with any political community, nor is
she bound to any political system. Rather, her function is to be the moral
conscience of the nation, the sign and safeguard of the supreme value of the
human person.

"Everywhere and all times, the church must be in a
position to preach the faith. She must carry out her mission unhindered. She
must be in a position to make moral judgments, even on political matters,
when fundamental human rights or the salvation of men require
it.

"Citizens have the duty to obey lawfully constituted authority. They
should not, however, entrust the state with disproportionate
power.

"True peace cannot be achieved unless personal values are
safeguarded, with men freely and confidently sharing their creative
gifts."

The above definition by the Catholic Bishops of Zimbabwe is
theologically correct. It is the biblical position espoused by both
Catholics and Protestants.

By presenting the NGO Bill, the government
has set itself on a collision course with the church because the aim of the
Bill is to take away the independence and autonomy of the church and to
place these under the authority of the State. Its goal is to take away the
freedom of the church. This is exactly what Adolf Hitler did in
Germany.

Those Christian leaders like Dietrich Bonhoffer and Martin
Niemoller who tried to resist his moves to subjugate the church were either
killed or sent to concentration camps. With the church silenced the
atrocities and horrors of the holocaust went on unchecked and without
reproof.

Hitler did not ban the church as such. He was too clever for
that. He pretended to be a Christian and even carried a tattered Bible.
Through intrigue he elevated sycophantic praise singers to the leadership of
the church. These fake pastors and bishops then approved of all that he did
in the name of German nationalism.

In Zimbabwe, it is saddening and
indeed frightening to see the same trend. Certain "church leaders" are now
being used by Zanu PF to give credence to all the government does including
the violent and economically disastrous land reform programme.

The
idea of banning NGOs and churches from receiving overseas funds for their
programmes is nothing new. A Reverend Chifamba mooted it way back in 2001.
In The Herald of 26 October 2001 he castigated the Zimbabwe Council of
Churches for writing a pastoral letter criticizing the government for
"allegedly instigating violence in the country and allowing war veterans to
take the law into their own hands". He went on to criticize the ZCC for
receiving money from overseas for voter education and training for election
monitors for the presidential election.

He said: "Funds from most of
these Western organizations, especially from countries hostile to Zimbabwe,
are not mere handouts. They always come with strings attached. The ZCC is
expected to make noise about the perceived lawlessness, land reforms and
presidential election."

The pitiful irony of it all is that a good many
of those in government were assisted by funds raised overseas by the
Christian Council of Rhodesia, which is now the Zimbabwe Council of
Churches. These funds were used to feed, clothe and educate their families
while they were in prison, detention or exile during the liberation
struggle.

What was good for the goose then should surely be good for the
gander today.

Chief among the so-called church leaders, who support the
government, rightly or wrongly, is one Reverend Obadiah Musindo. He is the
founder of the little known Destiny for Africa Network Church. Nobody seems
to know his background, where he studied Theology, the membership of his
church or where it regularly meets to worship God. In July this year his
"church" received peanut butter making machines worth $30 million from the
government as "part of its efforts to reduce unemployment". This sounds like
the 30 pieces of silver given to Judas Iscariot for betraying Jesus, doesn't
it?

Although the government media is predicting overwhelming support for
the NGO Bill one hopes that there will be enough people who fear God in
Parliament to block its passage.

If it becomes law then those who
will have voted for it will not escape the wrath of God for trying to
silence Him.

THE two
investigations into politically inspired violence in Manicaland could, like
many other inquiries before them, turn out to be nothing more than a
gigantic whitewash.

Police Commissioner, Augustine Chihuri, last week
warned that the police would not tolerate any violence especially during the
run-up to next year's parliamentary elections.Chihuri warned: "As we
proceed towards the 2005 parliamentary elections, there have already been
acts of inter- and intra-party political violence in parts of the country.
In these acts of criminality, life has been threatened and property damaged.
This barbaric type of political activism in which youths are used as cannon
fodder should cease forthwith."

Zimbabwe Republic Police officers, he
said, were under instruction to have zero tolerance of any situation or
activities, which they perceive as contributing to violence. The ruling
party, Zanu PF, has instituted the second inquiry.

A police board of
inquiry investigating recent political violence in Rusape has implicated
Makoni North Member of Parliament (Zanu PF), Didymus Mutasa, who is also the
Minister of Special Affairs Responsible for Anti-Corruption.

Many people
in and around Rusape, who are not supporters of the ruling party, live in
terror of youths, who are known followers of the minister. Rusape is a no-go
area for non-Zanu PF supporters and merely being found in possession of a
private newspaper, for example, can invite trouble.

The police inquiry
found that the minister has a case to answer and recommended that all
parties and persons involved or implicated in the assaults, destruction of
property and public violence should be dealt with in terms of the law
regardless of "status or station in life".

Tough talking, but this is the
usual rhetoric that precedes every election in this country. There is
nothing really new, apart from the time this directive is issued. Many will
view these developments with a lot of scepticism. Over the past two years
the hopes and expectations of the nation have been raised unnecessarily,
only to be dashed altogether.

The problem stems from the police stance
that they will not interfere in anything they consider political - whether
violence or invasions. The second is that the Police Commissioner himself
publicly declared his allegiance to the ruling party and demonstrated his
reluctance to act against any excesses by supporters of Zanu
PF.

While the police commissioner spoke of zero tolerance to violence by
members of the public, he is silent on violence by members of his force and
Zanu PF.

Police officers have been implicated in torture and ill
treatment, mostly of MDC supporters. Among examples of torture by police are
those of MP Job Sikhala; lawyers Beatrice Mtetwa and Gabriel Shumba and MDC
supporters Bishop Shumba, Taurai Magaya and Charles Mutama.

Since
2000 more than 100 people were murdered and nearly 900 others were beaten up
and maimed. Their crime: they dared to belong to or they were merely
suspected of being supporters of the opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC).

But the police have refused to react expeditiously - if at
all - in bringing the perpetrators to book.

In at least three cases,
the High Court has asked for people suspected of murdering or torturing
political opponents during the run-up to the 2000 parliamentary elections.
However, four years later, some of the suspects are still to appear before
the courts, even though they were named and their whereabouts are
known.

The case of Joseph Mwale, a Central Intelligence Organisation
(CIO) operative in Chimanimani is one example which immediately springs to
mind.

The ruling party has initiated its own investigation into
intra-party violence in Manicaland, but its record is one of gunning for the
small fish or coming out with inconclusive results.

The recent probe
into companies owned by the ruling party is a case in point. In short, such
measures are merely intended to mislead the general public into believing
that the government or Zanu PF have both the will or capacity to deal with
their errant members or supporters. They do not.

In the past, where such
members or supporters have been convicted, President Mugabe has seen nothing
wrong in granting an amnesty. For supporters of the ruling party, amnesties
have therefore become the convenient way of escaping censure and a green
light to commit further atrocities with impunity.

An audit of the human
rights abuses in this country will show that the majority of the violations
were committed by ruling party supporters and police, security and army
officers against opposition or suspected opposition party
supporters.

Violence has been a part of the election landscape in this
country since 1985 and it is unlikely that given the panic in both
government and ruling party, they have now found the political will and
determination to banish violence, which has been their electoral trump card
all these decades.

The truth of the matter is that neither the police nor
the government have the will and the inclination to deal wth the Zanu
PF-inspired violence.

THE
government is struggling to pay a subsidy to the Zimbabwe School Examination
Council (Zimsec), throwing into uncertainty ordinary and advanced level (O
and A level) examinations set for October and November this
year.

Earlier this year, government turned down proposals by the
Zimsec to increase fees from $100 to $16 500 a subject for Ordinary Level
examinations and also from $1000 to $39 000 for an A Level
subject.

Aeneas Chigwedere, the Minister of Education, Sports and
Culture, told Parliament recently that his ministry had decided to subsidise
the examination fees in order to assist parents. He pegged the examination
fee for an "O" Level subject at only $500 and an "A' Level subject at $5
000.

Sources at the examinations council said recently the government was
failing to pay the subsidy, threatening operations of Zimsec, which has for
the past few years experienced serious financial problems.

It was
only last week, sources said, that government paid Zimsec $10 billion.
"After paying the September salaries and a few creditors, the council will
run dry," said a well placed source.

Chigwedere confirmed that government
had paid $10 billion two weeks ago. "Yes the money was given to Zimsec late
but this does not mean that government is failing to pay the subsidy," he
said.

FOUR people were seriously injured after a group of
marauding Zanu PF militias attacked MDC supporters who had gathered at the
Globe and Phoenix ground to celebrate the party's fifth anniversary in
Kwekwe. The attacks, according to Kwekwe MP Blessing Chebundo (MDC) took
place around 8 o'clock on Saturday morning as party supporters were
preparing for the start of the anniversary celebrations.

"We
were supposed to hold a rally that was sanctioned by the police under POSA
(Public Order and Security Act) but unfortunately a group of Zanu PF
supporters attacked us and four people were taken to hospital. They were
more that 200 Zanu PF supporters. I don't even know where they all came
from," said Chebundo. Police in Harare said they were aware of the
incident.

MUTARE - THE city council last Tuesday appeared before the
courts for allegedly polluting Sakubva River.

The council, which was
represented by its legal counsel, Issue Matting, appeared before Mutare
magistrate Billiard Musakwa. It was not asked to plead and the case was
remanded to September 28, 2004.The Zimbabwe National Water Authority, ZINWA,
is the complainant.

Abiot Kachirika, appearing for the State, said
council employees at Gimboki Sewerage Works unlawfully discharged raw
effluent into Sakubva River without a permit on 26 May this year
.

Kachirika said the raw effluent from the sewage works polluted water
downstream.

He said investigations by a water quality scientist with
ZINWA, Webster Munhundiripo, had shown the water was contaminated and the
council was carrying out operations at the sewerage works without a permit
from ZINWA.

The council requested that the matter be deferred to a later
date to allow its legal counsel to go through the charge and prepare a
defence.

Musakwa granted the request and the matter will be heard this
week on Tuesday.

"My heart bleeds when I find that I have nowhere to turn to for
justice. They invaded my farm, stole 670 cattle and recently sold my coffee
worth millions of dollars in defiance of several court orders," laments Roy
Bennett, the owner of Charleswood Estate in Chimanimani.

Police
officers, the army and several supporters of ruling Zanu PF party, who
invaded Charleswood Estate in 2000, are still camped at the farm despite six
High Court orders, instructing them to leave or stop interfering with
operations at the farm.Bennett is an opposition Movement for Democratic
Change (MDC) legislator for Chimanimani constituency.

"It is a pity
that the government is ignoring it's own laws," said Bennett, whose 108
tonnes of coffee were recently sold by the Agricultural and Rural
Development Authority (ARDA), a quasi-government body, despite a court
prohibiting the sale.

Bennett's predicament is representative of that
of scores and scores of other commercial farmers, who have turned to the
courts for justice but have found none.

Another commercial farmer,
whose farm was invaded in Hippo Valley in Chiredzi, said he secured two
court orders but scores of Zanu PF supporters were still camped at his
farm.

"The police say it is a political issue, so they can't effect the
order. I will continue to fight in the courts," said the farmer, who
preferred anonymity. He said publicity might jeopardise his
chances.

In 2001, Leith Bray of Meidon Estate in Karoi was evicted from
his farm despite a High Court order.

These three cases are just a
drop in the ocean.

The Commercial Farmers' Union (CFU), an organisation
that represents the majority of the remaining 500 - 1 000 white commercial
farmers, estimates that the government or its supporters have defied up to
100 Court orders since the 2000 land invasions, which were spearheaded by
Zanu PF supporters and war veterans.

A spokesperson for CFU said
several commercial farmers had been granted relief to return to their
properties by the courts because the farms had been acquired illegally but
could not do so due to prevailing lawlessness.

"This is a typical example
of how Zanu PF disregards the law. It shows there is no rule of law in this
country. In some cases, when it (the government) loses in court, it changes
the law to suit its needs," said the CFU spokesperson.

Infuriated by
the continued defiance of court orders and delays in handing down judgements
in the country, the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) recently filed
a complaint with the Portfolio Committee on Justice Legal and Parliamentary
Affairs.

In a report dated September 16, ZLHR director Arnold Tsunga said
defiance of court orders was rampant in matters relating to land and cases
under the obnoxious Public Order and Security Act (Posa).

"In the
Bennett cases, despite the eviction orders granted by the courts no less
than six times, the settlers, apparently with the blessing of some top
officials in government, have refused to vacate the property," wrote
Tsunga.

In June 2002, President Robert Mugabe declared that his
government would not respect court judgements, if the government did not
agree with the verdicts.

He made the declaration at a time when several
commercial farmers were challenging the legality of Section 8 eviction
orders.

Analysts said Mugabe's statement could have fueled defiance of
court orders by government officials, war veterans and Zanu PF
supporters.

"This is indicative of our general feeling that the executive
considers itself above the law," said the CFU spokesperson.

Tsunga
lamented the death of the justice delivery system in the country. "Without
doubt, justice delivery in Zimbabwe is in shambles. The relevant authorities
such as the Ministry of Justice and the Law Society have an obligation to
come together and overhaul the justice system for the good of all
Zimbabweans."

The vice-president of the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) Lawyers' Association, Sternford Moyo, said the government's
failure to observe court orders renders ineffective the judicial remedy,
which should be available to citizens when their rights are
violated.

"It renders ineffective the function of the court as a check
against the excesses of the legislature and the executive. The court's
ability to check the excesses of executive is critical to the proper
functioning of the concept of separation of powers," said Moyo, a former
president of the Law Society.

He said when citizens have
unsuccessfully exhausted all domestic avenues for remedy; they can resort to
"international mechanism" for the protection of their rights.

The
African Charter for Human and People's Rights, for example, provides for the
African Commission, which reports directly to heads of State, and handles
complaints from individual citizens of member states.

Moyo said the
Nigerians and Zambians had used the African Commission extensively, while in
Europe people had also relied on the European Court of
Justice.

"There is no reason why African mechanisms should not be
used extensively by Zimbabweans," Moyo said.

In a bid to force the
government to observe its orders, the High Court of Swaziland on December
19, 2002, declared that it would not entertain court papers in which the
government was the applicant, except for criminal proceedings. "In this
case, the High Court used the 'dirty hands concept' and it worked for them,"
said Moyo.

But other analysts said it was unlikely that Mugabe would heed
international pressure, especially at a time when he is determined to win
next year's general elections.

Zimbabwe is scheduled to hold
parliamentary polls in March next year. Previously, elections were marred by
intimidation, violence and murder despite widespread international
condemnation.

THE civil society, realising the futility of taking
their case to the courts, has resolved to lobby the Southern African
Development Community (SADC) countries to force President Robert Mugabe to
drop the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) Bill, which they say is
unconstitutional.

Among other things, the Bill purports ti establish the
ZEC, an organisation that would administer all elections in the country in
line with acceptedregional election standards.Analysts, however, say n
practice, it is designed to consolidate the ruling Zanu PF's political
position in the country.

The organisations met at a "crisis meeting"
organised by the Zimbabwe Election Support Network (Zesn) in Harare a
fortnight ago and agreed that taking litigation was an exercise in futility
considering that there are several other pending cases against Zanu PF, yet
to be concluded.

Some of the cases have been in the courts for more than
three years.

The way forward, the organisations said, was to approach
both the SADC secretariat and individual heads of State, lobbying them to
exert pressure on Mugabe, who has crafted several pieces of legislation
meant to keep him in power.

Zesn chairman, Dr Reginald Matchaba-Hove,
said SADC heads of State were the most influential politicians in the region
and they could exert pressure on the 80-year-old President to drop the
Bill.

"Crisis Coalition Zimbabwe is already doing it. It has previously
worked and I hope it will work," he said.

It was through lobbying by
civic organisations and MDC in the region and internationally that forced
Zanu PF to introduce the current electoral reforms, although they have been
described as "cosmetic".

The lobbying also resulted in Zimbabwe signing
the SADC principles and guidelines governing democratic
elections.

Greg Linington, a lecturer in the department of political and
administrative studies at the University of Zimbabwe said regional lobbying
was the best option under the current political environment.

"It will
be very difficult to take the legal route because history has it that it
will produce nothing. At the moment, lobbying both SADC and Parliament is
the best option," Linington said.

He said several 2000 and 2002 election
petitions and the case in which the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) is
seeking Mugabe's impeachmentwere conveniently still before the courts years
after they were filed.

The meeting agreed on the need to educate the SADC
region on the crisis of governance in Zimbabwe because there is still a
strong misconception that the current crisis stems from the land reform
programme.

Prosper Mutandadzi; an officer with Zimbabwe Peace Project,
said the Bill was a 'son-in-law' of the Non Governmental Organisation (NGO)
Bill, which excludes civic society from participation in governance and
human rights issues.

HARARE - Prison authorities in Zimbabwe say they will hire out
inmates as labourers on farms resettled under the country’s land reform
programme, a state newspaper reported on Sunday. The Sunday Mail quoted a
prison official as saying the scheme would help inmates to learn new skills, as
well as helping the country’s farmers overcome labour shortages.“We felt as
part of the rehabilitation process, the prisoners should not be seen as
criminals when they perform duties on the farms,” the paper quoted Washington
Chimboza, the deputy commissioner of the Zimbabwe Prison Service as
saying.“We want our prisoners to start from planting to weeding and
harvesting of a particular crop so that when they are released they can venture
into farming.”Zimbabwe embarked on a controversial land reform programme
four years ago, which saw the seizure of white-owned farms for redistribution to
new black farmers.However, the new farmers have sometimes faced problems
including lack of inputs, skills and labour.Chimboza said that of the
country’s 22,500 prisoners, many of them were not high-risk criminals and so
they were not likely to try and escape if employed as farm labourers.Twenty
new farmers have already used prison labour, the report said.Under the
scheme the prisoners also earn the stipulated farm workers’ wage of 3,000
Zimbabwe dollars (53 US cents) per day.An official with the Zimbabwe
Association of Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation was quoted as saying the
scheme was not likely to undermine the rights of prisoners.

HARARE, Sept. 26 (Xinhuanet) -- Violence against women, which includes
emotional abuse, physical and sexual violence, is on the increase in Zimbabwe
with one in every five women aged 15 to 29 years having experienced with an
intimate partner, according to the Sunday Mail.

The report said that a recent study has found "higher levels offorced
sexual intercourse," indicating an increase in sexual abuse of women and girls.
This form of violence against women has been described by researchers as
"lethal" in the context of HIV/AIDS.

The study has shown that women who experience domestic violenceare at
greatest risk of HIV infection due to their lack of power to negotiate safer
sex.

However, gender-based violence has often been understood as a domestic
problem rather than being both a public and development concern.

According to the Zimbabwe Country Report on Women, Girls and HIV/AIDS in
Southern Africa, ample evidence suggests that domesticviolence is so normalized
in Zimbabwe and the rest of the southern African region that women themselves
believe that wife beating and coerced sex is accepted as a natural consequence
of bad behavior.

Communities often did not consider a person an abuser if the sexual abuse
resulted in pregnancy and the abuser accepted responsibility.

The Zimbabwean law recognizes marital rape as a criminal offense but most
spouses are silenced by traditional values which restrict them from seeking
legal action against their spouses.

In 2001, the Zimbabwean government enacted the sexual Offenses Act to
protect women and girls from rape, including marital rape and other forms of
sexual abuse.

The Domestic Violence Bill, which proposes to provide protection and
relief to survivors of domestic violence, has been pending for some time,
raising concern by many women over the delay by Zimbabwe's parliament.
Enditem